Diane Mackey's blog

Yesterday we drove over to Leuven, 60kms south-east of Antwerpen; a university town with something of the delicious atmosphere I'd found in Ghent.I had heard of it but imagined it was some drab little town close to Brussels however this drab little town was first mentioned back the 9th century and by the 12th century it had become an important trading centre.

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

Longing: n. a yearning desire; adj. having or showing such desire. This morning I woke up and began breakfast but as I prepared it I felt a real longing for New Zealand. It took me some time to understand that it had rained in the night and in opening the window, I had let in the scent of rain on the Birch forest below the apartment; a scent I had grown with back home in New Zealand. But perhaps it was more than the birch ... Hone Tuwhare's poem 'Rain' explains some of my love of it. He mentioned how it is when it falls on hot black asphalt on a summers day but not how it smells in Fiordland's beech forests after rain ... how it is to wake on a rain-washed morning and only smell Nature.

I was surprised by the cute little office-cottage at the gates of Schoonselhof;surprised because Schoonselhof is Antewrpen's main cemetery and the cottage seemed like something Snow White might have shared with her seven dwarves. Schoonselhof began life as an estate, with its castle being used as a summerhouse for wealthy Antwerpen traders during the 16th century. Julius Moretus was the last owner and when he died in 1911 the city bought the 84 hectare estate for use as a cemetery. They were inspired by the 1784 royal decree of Emperor Jozef II, who wanted to end burials in churches and churchyards and relocate burial grounds outside city centres. It's a big cemetery, with interesting sections. We wandered through the area where the famous of Antwerpen were buried ... writers, sculptors, and aldermen to name a few. I was intrigued by this grave that had been made anonymous by ivy. There's also a Commonwealth section, with 101 soldiers from world war one, and another 1,465 from the second world war buried there.

Tonight is about resting after a day spent exploring the historic centre of Antwerpen. Debbie and I walked through Groenplaats, Grote and Kleine Pieter Potstraat, the Town Hall, Grote Markt and its Brabo Fountain and the exquisite hidden alleyway that is Vlaeykensgang ... a 16th century alley of shoemakers. We wandered through Handschoenmarkt ... originally a small cemetery, later a market place for 16th century fur and glove sellers. Onze Lieve Vrouwe kathedraal, with its 123 metre spire was the gothic masterpiece we located ourselves round as we journeyed.